A History of Aces at Creating Change: An Interview with Bauer

Creating Change 2019 was the first time an official Ace and Aro Hospitality Suite was included as part of the conference program. This victory was built upon the presence ace activists have been forging at Creating Change for years, organizing and hosting suites that brought people together when the conference programming did not. Bauer of Aces NYC talks with TAAAP social media committee member Aria about the gradual, uphill battle of cementing an ace, and eventually aro, presence at Creating Change.

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A Reflection on the Carnival of Aros

After reading the entries to February’s Carnival of Aros prompt and many of the discussions that followed, we would like to start this post by apologizing for choosing a topic that alienated some aros. Most of us here at TAAAP are aroaces, and we did not do enough to seek out the opinions of aros who are not part of or do not feel included in the ace community.

We want to do better in the future, and we are starting by reflecting on the Carnival of Aros. The following post contains our thoughts on the events leading up to the launch of the Carnival of Aros, the Carnival itself, and the discussions that have followed.

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February 2019 Carnival Round-up: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities

Thank you to everyone who participated in this joint blogging event between the Carnival of Aces and the newly-formed Carnival of Aros!

We hope that this event is just the beginning of the conversation on this topic, so we encourage everyone to read through other’s posts and respond with your thoughts. Even if you find this years down the line, if you have thoughts on the topic you should feel free to voice them!

We are looking forward to seeing the true start of the Carnival of Aros as a separate blogging event next month! Check out the March 2019 call for submissions on the Aromanticism Dreamwidth here, with the topic, “It’s Great to Be Aro!” The Carnival of Aces is also continuing separately in March, hosted by Controlled Abandon, with the topic, “Symbols of Identity.

Below are all the submissions we have received, along with a short summary of each. Please let us know if we missed anything!

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Who Should Be Doing Aro Advocacy?

This post is TAAAP’s submission to the February 2019 Carnival of Aros/Carnival of Aces, which we are hosting. Read our call for submissions here.

The Ace and Aro Advocacy Project was founded about a year and a half ago as The Asexual Awareness Project. Our mission, which started as a simple desire to have aces march at pride and to help aces gain recognition at the Creating Change conference, expanded organically over time. One of the ways it expanded was to include aromanticism fully and equally alongside asexuality.

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Submission #3: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities

The following is a submission by Iz N. for the February 2019 Carinival of Aros/Carnival of Aces.

I’m asexual and aromantic, and have identified as such for about eight years now. I have mixed feelings about how I fit in with both identities. I’m much quicker to id as ace, if I say anything beyond just “queer”. I think that’s because it’s easier to know I don’t feel sexual attraction than romantic attraction. Sexual attraction, after all, feels like a physical reaction, which, while murky, is at least relatively simple to pin down. This is particularly true since I have a libido, so I know what sexual arousal feels like – it’s just not aimed at anyone.

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Submission #2: Musings of a (Chinese) dragon

This post is a submission by Blaise to the February 2019 Carnival of Aros/Carnival of Aces.

Sometimes I feel like the mythical Chinese dragon, in which I am Chinese, nonbinary, aromantic and asexual. Having all of these identities, it’s already hard for me to connect with others in the communities I can participate in. Especially the aro and ace communities.

Now, despite technically being an “asexual, period,” I’m one to emphasize my aromanticism when talking about my lived experiences and see the world under an aro-leaning lens. My time in the aro and ace communities haven’t been long, I’ll admit, but I think I’ve seen enough changes going on in the two communities to finally conclude that I don’t feel a sense of belonging in the ace community, despite being ace. (Not much with the aro and nonbinary communities either, but that’s besides the point I’m trying to make.)

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Submission #1: The Relationship Between the Aro and Ace Communities

The following post is an anonymous submission to this month’s joint Carnival of Aros and Carnival of Aces event.

As someone who is both asexual and on the aromantic spectrum, I always felt some disconnection to the asexual community. My asexuality might be a part of who I am but my romantic orientation is what I keep thinking about.

My asexuality is simple to me, I don’t feel sexual attraction and I’m sex-indifferent and sometimes sex-positive. My romantic orientation is complicated, I don’t know the circumstances that cause me to be romantically attracted to someone, I don’t know what genders I’m attracted to, sometimes I’m repulsed by romance but most of the time just bored by it. I’ve known I’m ace since I heard the term for the first time while I’ve been using more labels for my romantic orientation than I can remember.

Well, I guess everyone got what I mean by now.

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